Peter Wilson’s Historic Hat Trick Fuels Roots to 4-2 Victory Over Las Vegas Lights FC at Home

Roots played a nearly flawless first half, and capped off the night with a history-making hat trick from 2025 Golden Boot winner Peter Wilson, as Oakland defeated Las Vegas Lights FC 4-2 on Saturday night at the Oakland Coliseum.

Oakland looked to be in control of the match early, setting the pace and moving the ball with intention from the back line to put pressure on the Las Vegas defense.

This early pressure paid dividends in the 18th minute when Peter Wilson bagged his first of the year after good ball movement outside the box led to a through ball to Wolfgang Prentice who sent a great cross in front from the left side that found Wilson with a tap in to make it 1-0 Roots.

Oakland doubled their lead in short order, and in a similar way to the first, when Bertin Jacquesson worked up the right wing before putting a good through ball into the box, this time finding Faysal Bettache at the end of a good run. Bettache took a few steps before firing one into the top twine to give his side a 2-0 lead in the 22nd minute of the match.

Roots were dominant in the first frame, allowing Vegas just one shot attempt which didn’t manage to find its way on target, controlling the majority of possession, and finding great attacking opportunities of their own throughout the first half.

Oakland scored their third of the evening with a carbon copy of their first goal of the night when Prentice again found space up the left side and again put an inch perfect cross to the front of the net to find Wilson slotting it home bottom right for their second connection of the contest to make it 3-0 Oakland in the 58th minute.

Las Vegas got one back in the 69th minute when a through ball up the middle found Oalex Anderson who sprinted into the box taking a touch around a charging Raphael Spiegel who was just a half step late, and depositing the ball into the empty net to make it 3-1.

Lights found another in the 78th minute when Nighte Pickering played a cross into the box from the right side, finding former Roots favorite Johnny Rodriguez who fired it home in the air to make it 3-2.

But Peter Wilson and his boots of gold would not let the comeback for Las Vegas materialize in full, as he had some history making magic in his back pocket to seal the win for Oakland. After making a furious run into the Vegas box and drawing contact, Wilson was awarded a penalty kick, converting from the spot to earn his hat trick, Roots first as a USL Championship club, and make it 4-2 in the 87th minute.

Roots’ four goals in the match tied their franchise record, and gave fans a glimpse of the firepower Oakland has when things are clicking the way head coach Ryan Martin expects them to.

Oakland will now get ready for their third match in eight days as they prepare to head south for their 2026 debut in the Prinx Tires USL Cup — a group stage fixture versus rivals Monterey Bay FC in Seaside this Saturday, April 25th at 7 PM PT.

Talking with Head Coach Ryan Martin

Thoughts on the performance tonight, the four goal result, and the hat trick from Peter Wilson?

I think it was a pretty complete performance in a lot of ways. And I think we obviously made it a little bit harder on ourselves by making some decisions late that got it to 3-2, which we’ll revisit, keep learning, keep growing. 

I know Florian takes responsibility for the first one, and as I told him, even at 33 you can still continue to learn and grow, which is what kind of ethos the group has had throughout the years. How much better can we get each week in each game and throughout the season? You know, obviously, Peter was tremendous, and I’ve told you guys for many weeks that he’s putting a lot of work in. 

‘It will come. It will come.’ Not sure he fully believed that. I think he was a little hard on himself, but he showed his class tonight, and he was tremendous. 

But you also have to look at Tommy McCabe playing center back, and did well. Wolfgang was tremendous as a left back. Bobosi, I thought, was very, very good. Faysal’s goal was spectacular, and we’ve been pushing him to have better final action, final product. And you know, that’s a pretty big statement goal. 

Pretty proud of the guys, especially on a short turnaround with lots of injuries and a red card. So, good Wednesday.

Oakland Roots SC vs Las Vegas Lights FC

USL Championship | April 22, 2026

Venue: Oakland Coliseum | Oakland, CA

Kickoff: 7:00 PM PT

Weather: 60°F, Clear Skies

SCORELINE: 

OAK: 4

TUL: 2

SCORING SUMMARY:

OAK: Peter Wilson 18’

OAK: Faysal Bettache 22’

OAK: Peter Wilson 58’

LV: Oalex Anderson 69’

LV: Johnny Rodriguez 78′

OAK: Peter Wilson 87’ (PK)

DISCIPLINE SUMMARY:

LV: Abraham Okyere 37’ (yellow card)

OAK: Thomas McCabe 51’ (yellow card)

OAK: Michael Edwards 77’ (yellow card)

LV: Kyle Scott 86’ (yellow card)

OAKLAND ROOTS LINEUP: Tommy McCabe, Bobosi Byaruhanga, Wolfgang Prentice, Peter Wilson (Bradley Roberson), Florian Valot (Ali Elmasnaouy), Jesus De Vicente, Bertin Jacquesson (Jackson Kiil), Raphael Spiegel, Michael Edwards, Faysal Bettache (Emilio Martinez), Danny Trejo (Keegan Tingey)

Unused subs: Kendall Mcintosh, Alejandro Caracheo Luna, Luka Rosić

Shots: 12 | Shots On Goal: 6 | Corner Kicks: 7 | Fouls: 14 | Offside: 1 | 

LAS VEGAS LINEUP: Nathaniel Jones, Elias Gartig, Manuel Arteaga Rubinaes (Oalex Anderson), Christian Pinzon, Johnny Rodriguez, Carson Locker (Kyle Scott), Marc Ybarra, Aaron Guillen (Efthimios Antonoglou), Abraham Okyere (Benjamin Mines), Blake Pope (Nighte Pickering), Jared Mazzola

Unused subs: Carver Miller, Benjamin Ofeimu

Shots: 7 | Shots On Goal: 2 | Corner Kicks: 0 | Fouls: 17 | Offside: 1 |